KYIV, Ukraine
\nResidents of Ukraine\u2019s bombed capital clutched empty bottles in search of water and crowded into caf\u00e9s for power and warmth Thursday, switching defiantly into survival mode after new Russian missile strikes a day earlier plunged the city and much of the country into the dark.
\nIn scenes hard to believe in a sophisticated city of 3 million, some Kyiv residents resorted to collecting rainwater from drainpipes, as repair teams labored to reconnect supplies.
\nFriends and family members exchanged messages to find out who had electricity and water back. Some had one but not the other. The previous day\u2019s aerial onslaught on Ukraine\u2019s power grid left many with neither.
\nCaf\u00e9s in Kyiv that by some small miracle had both quickly became oases of comfort on Thursday.
\nOleksiy Rashchupkin, a 39-year-old investment banker, awoke to find that water had been reconnected to his third-floor flat but power had not. His freezer thawed in the blackout, leaving a puddle on his floor.
\nSo he hopped into a cab and crossed the Dnieper River from left bank to right, to a caf\u00e9 that he\u2019d noticed had stayed open after previous Russian strikes. Sure enough, it was serving hot drinks, hot food and the music and Wi-Fi were on.
\n\u201cI\u2019m here because there is heating, coffee and light,\u201d he said. \u201cHere is life.\u201d
\nKyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said about 70% of the Ukrainian capital was still without power on Thursday morning.
\nAs Kyiv and other cities picked themselves up, Kherson on Thursday came under its heaviest bombardment since Ukrainian forces recaptured the southern city two weeks ago. The barrage of missiles killed four people outside a coffee shop and a woman was also killed next to her house, witnesses said, speaking to Associated Press reporters.
\nIn Kyiv, where cold rain fell on the remnants of previous snowfalls, the mood was grim but steely.
\nThe winter promises to be a long one. But Ukrainians say that if Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s intention is to break them, he should think again.
\n\u201cNobody will compromise their will and principles just for electricity,\u201d said Alina Dubeiko, 34. She, too, sought out the comfort of another, equally crowded, warm and lit caf\u00e9. Without electricity, heating and water at home, she was determined to keep up her work routine. Adapting to life shorn of its usual comforts, Dubeiko said she uses two glasses of water to wash, then catches her hair in a ponytail and is ready for her working day.
\nShe said she\u2019d rather be without power than live with the Russian invasion, which crossed the nine-month mark on Thursday.
\n\u201cWithout light or you? Without you,\u201d she said, echoing remarks President Volodymyr Zelenskky made when Russia on Oct. 10 unleashed the first of what has now become a series of aerial attacks on key Ukrainian infrastructure.
\nWestern leaders denounced the bombing campaign. \u201cStrikes against civilian infrastructures are war crimes,\u201d French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted.
\nRussian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov acknowledged Thursday that it targeted Ukrainian energy facilities. But he said they were linked to Ukraine\u2019s military command and control system and that the aim was to disrupt flows of Ukrainian troops, weapons and ammunition to front lines. Authorities for Kyiv and the wider Kyiv region reported a total of 7 people killed and dozens of wounded.
\nRussian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said: \u201cWe are conducting strikes against infrastructure in response to the unbridled flow of weapons to Ukraine and the reckless appeals of Kyiv to defeat Russia.\u201d
\nKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also sought to shift blame for civilian hardship on Ukraine\u2019s government.
\n\u201cUkraine\u2019s leadership has every opportunity to bring the situation back to normal, has every opportunity to resolve the situation in such a way as to meet the demands of the Russian side and, accordingly, end all possible suffering of the civilian population,\u201d Peskov said.
\nIn Kyiv, people lined up at public water points to fill plastic bottles. In a strange new war-time first for her, 31-year-old Health Department employee Kateryna Luchkina resorted to collecting rainwater from a drainpipe, so she could at least wash her hands at work, which had no water. She filled two plastic bottles, waiting patiently in the rain until they had water to the brim. A colleague followed behind her, doing the same.
\n\u201cWe Ukrainians are so resourceful, we will think of something. We do not lose our spirit,\u201d Luchkina said. \u201cWe work, live in the rhythm of survival or something, as much as possible. We do not lose hope that everything will be fine.\u201d
\nThe city mayor said on Telegram that power engineers \u201care doing their best \u201d to restore electricity. Water repair teams were making progress, too. In the early afternoon, Klitschko announced that water supplies had been restored across the capital, with the caveat that \u201csome consumers may still experience low water pressure.\u201d
\nPower, heat and water were gradually coming back elsewhere, too. In Ukraine\u2019s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the governor announced that 3,000 miners trapped underground because of power blackouts had been rescued. Regional authorities posted messages on social media updating people on the progress of repairs but also saying they needed time.
\nMindful of the hardships \u2014 both now and ahead, as winter progresses \u2014 authorities are opening thousands of so-called \u201cpoints of invincibility\u201d \u2014 heated and powered spaces offering hot meals, electricity and internet connections. More than 3,700 were open across the country of Thursday morning, said a senior official in the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
\nIn Kherson, hospitals without power and water are also contending with the gruesome after-effects of intensifying Russian strikes. They hit residential and commercial buildings Thursday, setting some ablaze, blowing ash skyward and shattering glass across streets. Paramedics helped the injured.
\nOlena Zhura was carrying bread to her neighbors when a strike that destroyed half of her house wounded her husband, Victor. He writhed in pain as paramedics carried him away.
\n\u201cI was shocked,\u201d she said, welling with tears. \u201cThen I heard (him) shouting: \u2018Save me, save me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV, Ukraine Residents of Ukraine\u2019s bombed capital clutched empty bottles in search of water and crowded into caf\u00e9s for power and warmth Thursday, switching defiantly into survival mode after new Russian missile strikes a day earlier plunged the city and much of the country into the dark. In scenes hard to believe in a sophisticated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-297498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n